


Fox Hunt

by Nikotheamazingspoonklepto



Series: Puzzle Pieces [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Addiction, Bisexuality, Bonding, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Freshmen Foxes, Freshmen supporting each other, Happy Foxes, Homophobia, I repeat, I ship Neil with everyone, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jack and Sheen are assholes, M/M, Matt and Dan take Neil on a date, Monogamy, Multi, Neil looks out for Nicky, Neil loves all of his Foxes, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Protectiveness, Rating May Change, Rude - Freeform, Sassy Neil Josten, Soft Neil Josten, Spying, Stalking Neil, Tags will be added with each chapter, Vice-Captain Neil Josten, crossdresser Neil, exposing Neil, not like you think, shower kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:46:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14566362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikotheamazingspoonklepto/pseuds/Nikotheamazingspoonklepto
Summary: Jack Bremer and Sheena Maugeri, freshmen Foxes, HATE most of the original nine Foxes, but especially their vice-captain; Neil Josten. They caught him with their captain; Dan Wilds and her boyfriend Matt Boyd, kissing them goodnight on Saturday, leading them to think that they've finally found a way to ruin the image that the Foxes have of him. Expose him to Andrew. They believe this could be a way to get him off the team.They are in for a big surprise.





	1. Monday

**Author's Note:**

> This starts two days after part one; 'In Which...' and starts during part two; 'The Little Things'.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Neil waves at his boyfriends in the gym locker room and follows after Matt, allowing himself to be tucked under his arm. He can’t help but smile, his heart swelling happily at the idea of Kevin and Andrew having a couple hours to themselves and hopes it works out. He knows it will, but they are Foxes and Murphy’s Law sometimes rears its ugly head.

“We’re meeting Dan at the tower first, gotta grab a couple things okay?” Matt smiles down at Neil, squeezing his shoulder.

 “Sounds good to me!”

~ 

Freshman striker, Jonathan “Jack” Bremer’s eyes narrow at what he just heard heading down the opposite direction of the hall he is in. He turns to see Boyd and Josten turn the corner to head to the parking lot, Boyd’s arm around Josten, smiling and chatting. He recalls Saturday night when he saw his vice-captain, dressed in some ridiculous, girly gay outfit kiss both Boyd and Wilds as they left Josten’s dorm and gags.

“What the fuck…” he mutters under his breath, about to head to find Sheena Maugeri, freshman backliner, about what he’s seen when the men’s locker room door opens again. His idol Kevin Day and Josten’s asshole boyfriend Andrew Minyard walk out, quiet as they head the same direction as Boyd and Josten had a minute ago.

Jack can’t help but hate Minyard for taking Kevin’s attention away from him, _he_ picked Jack as one of his recruits for this season, damn it! Both Minyard and Josten steal his attention away. All of the original foxes, save for Kevin and maybe Renee Walker, does not deserve to be on this team, either their skills are shit or they don’t even try. He still can’t even figure out how they managed to win against the Ravens last year.  

Fuck it. He needs to find Sheena and figure out how to deal with the main issue first - Neil Josten. Maybe if they can expose him for the piece of shit he is, the rest of the team will hate him enough and push him out and he’ll quit on his own.

 

\---

 

“Gotta lunch date with Matt and our lovely vice-captain,” Dan tells Renee and Allison as she zips up her team jacket. “What about you two?” 

“We’re going out for lunch with Nicky,” Renee smiles gently, holding her girlfriend’s makeup bag while she waits for her to finish winging her eyeliner.

“Oh? Where about?” Dan asks curiously, “we wanted some privacy.”

Sheena, who is in the next row of lockers, halts in tying her hair up so she can get closer to listen in on the upperclassmen girls’ conversation. She has this wicked smirk on her would be pretty face, if she was not thinking about something so cruel. Finally, a chance to prove that Josten isn’t who he says he is!

“What are you doing, Sheena?” asks Laura Watts, freshman goalie, walking by her teammate with Talia Merchant, freshman striker, at her side. They were going to work on strategy together over takeout.

“Mind your own business, Watts,” Sheena sneers, not even looking at her teammates as she waves them away.

Talia and Laura roll their eyes and walk out of the locker room, brushing off Sheena’s attitude and talk about strategies the older Foxes have been teaching them. They ignore Jack as they head out. Such a dick. They all have their issues, but Jack and Sheena have the _worst_ attitudes. Always hating on everyone and they always have something to say.  

“Ah, I think we’re just going to Olive Garden, Nicky was hoping to go.” Renee holds open the makeup bag for Allison to return her eyeliner and take it back.

“Hemmick is such a simpleton,” Allison sighs, flipping her platinum blonde curls over her shoulder. “I offered to pay for some _real_ Italian, just thirty minutes outside of Palmetto, but he wants their breadsticks.”

Renee giggles at this, standing on her toes to kiss Allison’s on her cheek, earning a sticky lipgloss kiss on her own. “He’s simple, but a sweetie. Neil adores him.”

Sheena’s brow pinches together at this, still waiting for Dan to say where she’s going with Boyd and Josten. 

“True, we all do, even his cousins! Anyway, we’re going to that diner ten minutes off of the highway - Matt loves it and it’s not visited often by many at Palmetto.” 

Sheena’s eyes widen and she smirks, turning to grab her bag and closes her locker, heading out and nearly slams into Nicky Hemmick on her way out. “Hemmick!” She snaps and then narrows her eyes. “What the fuck are you doing in the _girl’s_ locker room!?”

Nicky laughs at her, waving his hand passively at her disgusted sneer. “Finding my lovely lunch dates of course!” He winks and glides around her, singing ‘Ally and Ren’ as he walks into the locker room.

Dan, Allison, and Renee greet Nicky as if this is a normal occurrence, making a shiver crawl up her spine. “Creep…” she mutters, slamming out of the locker room, grinning at Jack when she finds him leaning against the wall across the door, a disgusted look on his face.

“Did Hemmick-”

“Forget that,” Sheena cuts him off, lowering her voice. “Boyd, Wilds, and Josten have a _date_ , I know where they are going.”

A vicious smile spreads across Jack’s face and he pulls Sheena along, speed walking out to the parking lot where her car is parked. “Let’s get there before they do.”

They both grin at each other.

 

\---

 

“You look cute, baby boy,” Matt compliments when Neil walks out of the room he shares with Aaron. “Wait - isn’t that shirt Aaron’s? Those are Katelyn’s skinny jeans!” He starts laughing hysterically, earning a playful smack from Dan. “You really are dating all of us.”

Neil snorts, tying Aaron’s team jacket around his waist and adjusting his armbands. “I’m too lazy to go back to my dorm and Katelyn said I can borrow her clothes if she can borrow mine. Seeing as Nicky and Ally seem to plan on only dressing me in women's clothes,” Neil looks down at his outfit, where the fitted grey muscle shirt hugs his torso nicely without revealing his scars very noticeably. Ally and Nicky had been educating him very carefully on how to properly dress and he likes looking good for his friends. They smile more that way. 

“You are too pretty for anything else, but we’d love you anyway,” Dan smiles and pops up from the couch. Unlike Neil, who dressed up a little bit for their lunch date, she’s in her favorite tracksuit, black and white sweats and an orange Fox sports bra with her tone six-pack on display. Her team jacket is left open. “Come on babes, I’m starving!” She snatches Neil’s hand, kissing him on his cheek and follows Matt out to the hall.

“Hi Laura, Talia!” Matt calls out. Dan and Neil echo him as they pass the girls who are carrying take out to the freshmen girls’ dorm room.

“Hi,” Laura and Talia call back. Both of them pause after a moment and turn around, seeing Neil and Dan holding hands, chatting with Matt walking in front of them. They look at each other, blink and then shrug. None of their business.

 

\---

 

Jack and Sheena asked to be seated in a far corner of the restaurant, perfect to see the entire floor and wait for their targets to enter. They enter shortly after a server takes their drink order - plus their meal order, having not really cared about eating, just spying. When Jack whips his phone out, Sheena twisted around and ducking in her seat to watch them enter while Jack snaps photos.  
  
Neil enters, holding hands with Dan, Matt behind them, texting on his phone as they wait to be seated. They watch as Dan scolds Matt, laughing when he puts away his phone and kisses her apologetically, then he kisses Neil when he says something while pouting.  
  
"They are so PDA its gross," Sheena murmurs, rolling her eyes. She rakes her eyes over his outfit, semi-destroyed black skinny jeans, his usual black boots, grey muscle shirt, black armbands and Minyard's team jacket tied around his waist. "He's even wearing his boyfriend's jacket while fucking around behind his back." Sheena spits with disgust and shudders when Matt pulls Neil to sit in his lap once they are seated at a booth. "Gross."  
  
"Uh..." Jack starts, scrolling through the photos he just took with his eyebrows bunched together. "That's not _Andrew's_ jacket he looks up at Sheena when she turns to face him again. He keeps the screen from facing the server as she brings their sandwiches, thanking her and then shows the picture of the three of them walking toward their table.  
  
"Then whose-" Sheena's eyes widen for a moment at the back of the jacket - 'MINYARD #05' is clearly printed on the back. "Why the fuck would he be wearing _Aaron's_ team jacket?"  
  
Jack shrugs and looks back to the trio's table, watching them some more. Eventually, Neil slides off of Matt's lap and switches to sit across from him and next to Dan, falling into a deep discussion. It grows boring, so they eat, pay and slip out as sneakily as possible.

 

\---

 

“So, yesterday with Evans went well,” Matt smiles, though not at full power as he felt bad about the story the freshman had told them.  

Abby and Wymack were there to mediate if need be, hovering in the kitchen doorway, but never did, as Dan and Neil had it quite under control. Apparently, Evans has struggled with his drug addiction for a long time - since he was eleven - to which Aaron sympathized, but did not mention his mother, not able to. Andrew only sat on the sidelines, listening. Matt and Dan were the most gentle, but Kevin was a little harsh, as was Allison (who invited herself), but Kevin did admit to his own alcoholism, while Allison kept her cool gaze on him. Neil and Dan came up with a plan, essentially inviting Evans, their freshman dealer, to become a part of the returning Foxes’ fold. Kevin agreed to go to AA with him on Mondays, starting tonight, while Aaron and Matt would go with him to NA on Wednesdays. He was also invited to join them at dinner every night and ensured he had all of their numbers. Made him promise to call or text if there was ever a problem, no judgment, no questions asked. They will help him. Evans silently cried at their kindness. 

“I agree,” Dan nods, but before she can continue, their server comes over to take their drink orders. They also order their lunch of burgers, and fries so they wouldn’t have to later.

“He means well and really wants to improve, I can tell,” Neil smiles, leaning into Dan when her arm wraps around him. “I would bet that a lot of the reason why he’s winding up in places where he is exposed and tempted to use, is because of Bremer, the fuck. He’s always harping and spewing hatred. It’s like my Freshmen year all over again.” Unsurprisingly neither Matt nor Dan jump at the chance to take the bet.

“You brought us together last year baby boy, you can do it again. I’m certain,” Dan encourages him, wrapping him up in both of her arms. Their drinks are served and the three of them flash a smile to their server and then decide to shift topics.

“Alright, let’s talk about our defense, our first game is in three weeks.” Neil fishes out his smartphone and stares at it, wondering if he’ll be able to figure this out and finds the notepad. “Jean, how did you convince me to do this to myself?” He sighs and looks up at the amused expressions on Dan and Matt’s face. “ _Rude_. Anyway, I’ll talk to Aaron and Nicky about what they’re thinking, but what is it like working with Caplan and Maugeri?”

“Uh…” Matt shrugs, watching Neil carefully type on the touchscreen. “Well, Derek has the potential to be great, he’s pretty easy to work with - a team player- that way I can focus more on working with Maugeri.” He watches Neil type this out, amused. “Sheena has gotten into a couple arguments with Nicky already though. You should see Aaron’s face when he hears what she has to say about his cousin under her breath.” He winces.

“Great…” Neil sighs and looks to Dan. “Is Evans going to be ready to be our starting dealer by the time you and Ally leave next year?”

Dan shrugs. “We'll work with him until he is, but we need an alternate. He was the only candidate when we were looking through last, but maybe our next batch - why are we worried about this right now?” Dan laughs. “Let’s get him ready for _this_ season.”

“Just worried about him,” Neil hums, thinking about their defense. Nicky was their weakest player on the team last year, but right now he thinks it might be Sheena, just because of her pushback on them with pretty much… everyone. Her and Jack. “Maugeri and Bremer _need_ to chill,” is all he can say about that.

“It will come together,” Dan assures him, just as the server arrives with their burgers and fries.

“I hope so…” Neil sighs.

 

\---

 

At afternoon practice, Neil wonders if Jack and Sheena heard his comment at the restaurant or something because the two of them keep giving him, Dan and Matt dirty, suspicious looks.


	2. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky is having a bad day, screwing up in practice and crying in the shower. Jack wants to know why everyone is going easy on him. Especially their vice-captain, who he and Sheena believe to be a cheater.
> 
> Andrew and Renee know something is up... but what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey gang, did you notice I updated the tags? Remember, this is a joined piece to my series Puzzle Pieces. I literally ship Neil with everyone in some form. 
> 
> Nicky and Matt are my favorite Foxes! I love these idiots.
> 
> ;_; Poor Nicky.
> 
> German is underlined. French is in Italics.

“I think we should take Russian together since PSU offers it,” Neil comments offhandedly to Kevin and Andrew, finishing strapping his armor on. When finished he grabs his gloves and helmet, his locker door shut afterward.

“Why Russian?” Kevin asks, double knotting the laces of his court shoes.

“Privacy,” Neil shrugs, “Nicky speaks Spanish and both he and Aaron speak German. I also saw you reading up on your Russian history this morning.” He grins when Kevin shrugs, meaning ‘fair enough’. “What do you think ‘Drew?” Neil looks to see Andrew staring while wearing his impassive expression, but his golden, hazel eyes curious and calculating. He follows his line of sight to where the three male freshmen are changing out, specifically on Jack. “‘Drew?”

“да,” Andrew answers with the Russian word for ‘yes’ when Jack looks over to where they are and narrows his eyes ever so slightly when their gazes lock. Jack smirked and he wants to know why. “ Have you done something more idiotic than normal?” He switches to German.

“Probably,” Neil looks back to his boyfriend, his grin earns him a cool look and they file out onto the court.

 

~

 

“How are you feeling today?” Derek Caplan, freshman backliner, asks Evans, waiting for the trembling addict to finish strapping on his armor.

“S-sick-ish,” Benji Evans (preferably called Evans), freshman dealer, smiles pathetically at his teammate. “Withdrawal sucks royally.”

“That’s what you get for being a fuckin' druggie, moron,” Jack snaps, glancing back over to where Kevin, Andrew, and Neil had been, smirking when Andrew glances back at them.

When Evans frowns, looking down to focus on strapping his armor onto forearms, Derek scoffs. “Knock it off Bremer, your unhelpful opinion is not required or wanted here.” That earns him a snarl, but he ignores Jack in favor of helping Evans out. “Come on Evans, you’ll need to sweat it out.”

“Thanks, Derek,” Evans smiles weakly and carries his helmet and gloves in one hand while they head out, ignoring Jack.

 

~

 

“ _I’m actually curious as to why your recruit is staring more than is socially acceptable,_ _at Andrew_ ,” Neil says to Kevin in French, while they set up the cones for the first Raven drill.

“ _Just focus on practice, Josten_ ,” Kevin heaves a sigh. He knows how much Neil can’t stand Jack, but he is pretty good and has improved since he came to Palmetto, unless he gets frustrated or angry. He has yet to score on Andrew though.

“ _Some boyfriend you are_ ,” Neil scoffs and snatches the ball from the court floor, juggling it once and looks over at Jack, who is, in fact, staring over at home goal, where Renee is working with Laura, their goalie recruit, Andrew appears to be napping against the plexiglass wall.

“Think fast Bremer!” Neil passes the ball hard and Jack turns around fast, scrambling to catch it. Neil wishes it hit him in the face, especially when Jack turns his sneer on him. “Pay attention to practice and not to _my_ boyfriend,” he mocks Jack’s snide comment from Saturday practice. When Talia chokes on a laugh, he grins at his chosen recruit.

“Fuck you, Wesninski,” Jack snaps back, trying to not feel intimidated by the dangerous smile on his vice-captain’s face. Or Kevin’s dark glare when he whirls around to face him, looming behind Neil.

“Run the drill, Bremer!” Neil orders, grinning when Jack tenses as he advances on him. “Merchant,” he looks to Talia, glad for the respectful way she looks at him, standing with proper posture. She may ask prying questions, but she's respectful when it counts. “Let’s work on our footwork.”

“Yes, VC!” Talia grins, using the abbreviation of his title that a few of the Foxes have taken to calling Neil. She doesn’t miss the grin and wink he gives to Kevin and decides to say nothing. They move away from Jack, who is now having the numbers of cones barked at him to knock over.

 

~

 

“Fucking hell Hemmick!” Sheena snarls, earning a sharp look from both Aaron and Matt, even a cool stare from Derek. “I knew you sucked, but you can’t even catch a rebound today!”

Nicky laughs, embarrassed, wringing his racquet in his hands. “No worries, just need a quick water break,” Nicky lies waves her off and refuses to meet his cousin’s or Matt’s eyes while walking to the court door.

Tears are welling up in his brown eyes by the time he gets to the door and he smiles at coach Wymack when he meets him on the other side of the door. “Just need a breather, coach,” he tells him and laughs when the door is opened.

“Jesus Hemmick, our first game is in three weeks!” Wymack growls at Nicky, maintaining his annoyed facade when he sees the first tears tumble down his cheeks. He’s not about to embarrass his most sensitive player but watches him jog back to the locker room, wondering what triggered his tears.

“Aaron!” Neil calls across the court, looking up from correcting Talia’s grip. “What happened?”

“Said a water break!” Aaron calls back and heard a growl of annoyance from his right. “Mind your own fucking business, Maugeri!” He moves away before he can hit her and approaches Derek, probably the most reasonable man among the freshmen. Out the corner of his eye he can see Allison and Dan jogging with Evans, sweating profusely as they encourage him to keep moving. Sighing, he takes his mind off of... everything and looks to Matt. “Again?”

“Again!” Matt agrees, scooping up the ball Nicky failed to catch, he passes it to the blond backliner, wondering along with the other returning Foxes if Nicky is okay. They force themselves to focus on running drills with their freshmen backliners.

 

\---

 

Jack rubs his hair with his towel until it is mostly dry, listening to Neil's conversation with Kevin and Andrew, watching from his peripherals. He takes his time to get dressed, ignoring Evans and Derek next to him, getting ready to head to post-practice dinner - team dinners are on Thursdays, or so he’s told, so far their captain's attempts at team bonding have been disasters. Anyway, Andrew isn’t responding to the conversation, but Kevin and Neil aren't talking about anything other than practice and where they can improve by game day, until Aaron walks over, wearing an exhausted expression.

"Nicky won't come out of the shower stall, and when I asked if he wanted to talk to you, he said ‘yes’,” Aaron looks concerned, mouth in a thin line, “and I'm pretty sure he's crying."

When Aaron grabs Neil's bicep, standing close, Jack turns to watch Andrew's reaction to the intimate touch - confused when he says and does nothing more than look at his twin expectantly. Curious, Jack strains to listen to the conversation, because after Nicky had returned, Neil set up a scrimmage and the fag barely managed to stop his mark half of the time. If any of the others did that, they'd be shouted at to run laps or even made to run drills.

“Do you know what it’s about?” Neil frowns, looking over at Andrew and Kevin for a moment and then back to Aaron.

"He got a phone call during lunch, but hid from me and Kate when we saw him."

Neil sighs, hanging his head. “That’s not like him…” He smiles when Aaron runs his fingers through his damp curls and finishes with a brief touch to his scarred cheek. In return, Neil reaches out and squeezes Aaron’s bicep. He knows just how much it has taken for Aaron to do that, especially in public, given how far he has come.

Jack’s eyes widen comically at the bold touches they share, eyes snapping over to Andrew. When Andrew does nothing about the affectionate touch, bored expression never shifting, Jack is beyond confused. Maybe it’s because Aaron is his brother or something? Wondering what is going on, he grabs the rest of his things, shoving them into his duffel bag.  
  
"I'll meet you guys at the cafeteria,” Neil decides, since it may take a bit to coax Nicky out. “Nicky will most likely be in a bit of a daze..."

“We’ll wait ten minutes,” Andrew corrects, turning away from the grateful smile Neil offers. His eyes land on Jack in time to see him turn away and disappear within the rows of lockers. Maybe more than ten minutes...

“Okay,” Neil lets go of Aaron’s arm and heads for the shower stalls, looking for Nicky.

 

~

 

Jack slips away from the rest of the guys because his curiosity has gotten the better of him, taking the long way around the locker room and hides in the toilet stalls. What is going on that could afford Nicky any form of special treatment? He hears two sets of footsteps exit, Evans, and Derek, he guesses, as Matt had already walked out to meet Dan. While wondering what Andrew would do to Matt and Dan for Neil cheating on him, he shoots Sheena a text:

 

Jack to Sheena: Cking out smtn. BRT. 

Sheena to Jack: K?

 

He hears Andrew say something in German and then Aaron respond, but seeing as he doesn’t understand German, he can only guess that it is about their cousin. He hears Kevin say something inaudible and then three more sets of footsteps leaving.

When the locker room door is slammed shut - probably Andrew, the violent asshole…- Jack leaves his duffel bag behind and slips from the toilet stalls. As he makes his way over to the shower side, Neil's and Nicky’s voice get louder. For once he is thankful for how sound echoes off of the walls. Armed with his camera phone, he crouches down, to see just Neil's knees on the wet shower floor -wearing shorts, otherwise, his clothes would be soaked- in front of Nicky who is sitting on the shower floor in a towel, sniffling.  
  
"I'm scared, baby boy..." Jack almost gags at the pet name, covering his mouth. "Aaron- he and Andrew... they... I just don't want them to be ruined by the trial… they've already been through so much. People already think so little of them."  
  
Trial? Jack wracks his memory, a bit confused and then shakes his head to focus, he can find out later. His brain is still trying to figure out why Andrew’s _cousin_ , would be using such an intimate sort of pet name for his vice-captain.  
  
"Nicky, Matt's family paid for the best public defender money can buy - she'll take care of them. She promised us, this will be as painless as possible. Aaron was protecting Andrew, so we just have to testify and Aaron will be alright."

Jack's eye twitches at the sight of Neil's hands on Nicky's thighs, as that towel is the only bit of coverage he has. After he's certain his phone is on silent, he snaps a photo of what he can see of the two of them from the foot and a half of empty space between the stall dividers and the shower floor.  
  
"But-" Jack can tell Neil must have kissed him, judging by how Neil is practically flush against Nicky. "Shh," one of Neil's hands moves up Nicky's naked side as he whispers in Spanish.  
  
"Your Spanish is improving," Nicky's voice sounds like he's trying to figure out whether he should laugh or cry.  
  
"I have a good teacher," they laugh and Jack shudders when they get close again and Nicky makes soft sounds - _they are definitely kissing_. Despite his disgust, he snaps another photo of them closer than they were before.  
  
Unable to take any more, Jack silently gets to his feet and creeps back to the toilet stalls to grab duffel bag and sneaks out of the locker room. After being careful to prevent the door from slamming shut, he turns around and finds Andrew leaning against the wall a few yards down, staring at him with that blank expression on his face. Jack freezes for a moment, taking in the way Andrew is toying with the edge of one of his armbands, tilting his head and cocking an eyebrow in question.  
  
Jack doesn't like the way he smiles at him,  _Andrew never smiles_ , putting a cigarette between his lips.

"No one likes to be spied on, John."  
  
Jack opens his mouth to retort but before he can, Andrew pushes off the wall and walks away, flipping him off. He scowls and huffs once the tiny goalie is gone and heads out to the other parking lot where Sheena usually is, so they can get dinner. He can't wait to clue her in.

Well… Maybe after his pulse relaxes…

 

~

 

“It’s been more than ten minutes,” Neil announces when he and Nicky get close to the Maserati, Kevin, and Andrew sitting against the hood, Aaron sitting in the back with the door open. Everyone is texting on their phones, Andrew is smoking. “Something wrong?”

Andrew’s eyes lock on to Neil and Nicky’s intertwined hands and then Nicky’s slightly red eyes. He blows out a ring of smoke and pushes from the hood. “Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p’.

When Kevin raises a brow at his nonchalant behavior, Neil tilts his head, but shrugs, tugging Nicky over so that they can sit in the back together. With Neil in the middle, Nicky curled into his side, Aaron nudges him, lifting his chin toward his cousin in a silent question. ‘Trial,’ he mouths and after a long moment of staring, Aaron nods and refocuses on his phone. They can talk about it later when Nicky is more stable.

 

\---

 

Renee watches the freshmen, constantly, especially in the dining hall. Talia and Laura usually end up eating together, arguing over strategy, but away from the rest of the group. Occasionally, like today, she finds that Derek will join Talia and Laura to strategize. Sheena and Jack always sit by themselves and watch everyone else. Jack seems to have finally given up on talking to Kevin because the twins, Katelyn, Nicky and Neil are always at the same table. Neil and Jack always end up ‘disagreeing’. Today they are whispering and looking rather… suspicious. Hm...

Evans however, initially floated awkwardly between tables and groups. If anyone, he would try to either sit with Derek or at Dan’s prompting, with the upperclassmen. He always looks uncomfortable and out of place, especially since nearly collapsing on Saturday. Except because of that very event, he discovered that he has the support of the original nine Foxes and that they are looking out for him. Despite his obvious withdrawal symptoms, he smiles when he greets Allison and Renee, sitting with his meal and appears less uncomfortable than before. Progress.

“Hey kiddo,” Dan ruffles Evans’ hair when she approaches the table with Matt trailing behind. “Good job at practice today, before you know it, you’ll be in peak condition. Keep it up.”

Evans’ cheeks flush as they sit down with him, Renee and Allison. “Thanks…”

“After getting that crap out of your system, you will be able to actually improve.”

“Ally,” Renee nudges her girlfriend for her hard comment, but Evans doesn’t look upset at her words, merely nodding in understanding.

“It’s fine, Renee,” Evans laughs at the groans from the upperclassmen and Renee’s amused smile. “What?”

“Josten!” Allison cackles. “No matter what, he would ‘I’m fine’, or ‘it’s fine’, when we would ask him last year.

Matt nods along. “He’s forbidden from saying it, or we will interrogate him.”

Evans snorts at that. “Speaking of our VC, he stayed behind to check on Nicky, he was crying in the showers when I left.” That comment summons concerned glances between them. “What?”

Dan hums. “Nicky is…”

“-Sensitive,” Renee cuts Allison off when she opens her mouth. “A lot went on last year, you’ll have to ask him for any details.”

Evans looks at the upperclassmen individually and nods. They are clearly protective of their own and he thinks he’s glad to have been taken under their ‘wing’.

“Speak of the devil,” Allison purrs, eyes glittering at the sight of ‘the Monsters’ finally filing into the athletes’ dining hall. She raises a manicured eyebrow at the way Aaron and Neil protectively flank Nicky, Andrew at the front, with Kevin taking up the rear alongside Katelyn and two other Vixens trailing behind. Normally Neil doesn’t hover so close to anyone but Andrew when around the freshmen. Nicky must be a wreck, proven by his false smile. “A hundred bucks says it has something to do with last November.” She is careful to not mention specifics.

“Allison…” Dan sighs. “No one is taking _that_ bet.” She carefully ignores Evans’ curious look and smiles at Neil and Katelyn when they wave at them, on their way to get their meals.

Renee waves as they pass by, but her gaze is focused on Jack and Sheena at the far side of the dining hall, vicious smiles on their faces while watching ‘the Monsters’ walk in. Especially Nicky and Neil. Her face gives away nothing, but she is rather curious about what they could be discussing in regards to her Fox family.

She isn’t surprised when later that night, Andrew approaches her for a sparring session. She wins, but not easily, Andrew throwing himself into it harder than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh man, Jack, youse asking for it!
> 
> Oopps, Evans became my favorite OC. Fuck.
> 
> But I love how Aaron fucking cares about his peeps in my story. 
> 
> THERAPY IS DOING THEM SOME GOOD HERE!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Kudos and Comments are so very appreciated! <3


	3. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lady Foxes and Neil have a spa day, Nicky teaches Aaron how to drive and Sheena starts to realize how fucked up Jack is. Also... Kevin and Neil are a thing!? OMG.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate writing summaries. lol.
> 
> Sorry for the lack of Evans in this chapter. Evans is my son. It's funny how Riko is my son - a giant piece of shit - and Evans is a sweetie, but that makes them brothers. I'm rambling, just go read this absurdity.
> 
> Also, thank you mishaschmidt for betaing!

“Where are you two going?” Sheena eyes her freshmen roommates and teammates, Talia and Laura, who are carrying drinks and snacks, heading out of their shared suite. She’d been waiting on Jack to tell her what was going on with their vice-captain to spy a little more, but so far, there was nothing and she’s _bored_.

Talia glances at Laura, both of them freezing in the doorway.

“Uh… Renee invited us to have a little spa day in her suite,” Laura finally answers when she realized that Sheena wouldn’t look away. She doesn't say that Renee had really only invited her and then she had asked Talia to come with.

Sheena stares at them for a moment, looking at the granola and sports drink she'd grabbed for a snack while she waited for Jack, feeling put out suddenly. “Can I come?”

Talia and Laura share another look in silent conversation but nod anyway. They're surprised at the actual smile on Sheena’s face when she jumps up, grabbing her own things and following them.

 

~

 

“I’ve got to say, Ally, he’s better at this than you,” Renee teases her girlfriend, watching Allison stick her tongue out at her through the mirror on the suite door. Renee catches Neil grin to himself while he brushes the bleach over her roots. She observes as he combs it through and then separates another section of hair to repeat the action, as he had been doing for the last ten minutes.

“Rude,” Allison scoffs, mixing another bowl of bleach for Neil to use when she sees the one he is using is already getting low - Neil works _fast_.

Neil stiffens, halting in his motions and looks at Allison before he starts laughing. “I wonder where I picked that up from all of a sudden.”

“Come _on_ baby boy,” Allison smirks. “Clearly you gravitate towards awesome people - curious as to why you gravitated toward-”

“Allison,” Renee warns, smiling serenely again when Allison immediately sighs and ruffles Neil’s hair apologetically. She manages to not move when there is a knock on the suite door, watching Allison open to door to reveal the three freshmen lady Foxes.

Allison raises a brow at Sheena, but nods at Talia and Laura, stepping aside for them to file in. She notices that Neil immediately puts his guard back up, his smile a little less genuine and his posture more rigid. She wants to kick them out immediately, but that decision would be up to Neil.

“Hey VC,” Laura and Talia greet, setting their bags on the floor by the couch. Talia whips out a bottle of Fox Orange dye with a smile, as Laura settles down with her lunch.

Sheena looks out of place, uncomfortable but curious, hanging by the door. She’s not glaring at anyone or throwing around snide remarks, but it doesn't help that she's staring blatantly at Neil.

“Hey,” Neil smiles, not looking up from what he is doing, finishing up on one side of Renee’s head. “What are we doing for you?” He side-eyes Sheena when she walks past, to look at everything Allison had laid out to use today. Allison had offered to trim his hair while Renee’s roots are lifting.

“Can I get someone to put this in my hair?” Talia waves the Fox Orange dye bottle at them, running a hand through her dark brown, nearly black hair.

Allison and Neil look over at the bottle. Allison purses her lips before answering. “Baby b -   _Neil_ will need to strip your natural hair color for the orange to hold, so maybe just a few streaks would be best.”

Sheena whirls around to stare at Allison when she catches the slip-up. She glances over at Laura and Talia, wondering why they didn't don’t seem to notice the rather sappy term of endearment Allison had almost let slip.

“It takes a lot to get your hair this light,” Renee pipes up to move the topic along, pointing at her own head. “I used to dye it black, so that was even a bigger nightmare. I had to hack it all off."

“Is that so?” Talia says in interest, tilting her head.

“My hair was so bad that Ally attacked me with a razor…” Neil mumbles, recalling the day Allison and Nicky had forced a makeover onto him, fixing his overly dyed and dried out hair.

“Damn right I did!” Allison grins. “Almost done with Ren?” She asks as watches Neil look through Renee’s wet hair. She's surprised at how fast he'd done it, and it seems as if he'd done an excellent job as well.

“Yeah… Go cook for a while, Renee,” Neil orders her fondly. He smiles and watches as she bounces up from the chair, before looking at Talia. “How many streaks do you want?”

Talia looks taken off guard for a moment, but she relaxes and smiles as she settles in the chair Renee had just vacated. “Ah, just a few for now… Where’d you learn to do hair, VC?” The seemingly innocent question makes Neil freeze. Allison stops talking immediately, looking over at them, on high alert in case Neil needed her to step in.

“Ah,” Neil laughs nervously.  He should be accustomed to her prying questions by now, but he isn't. “I used to dye my mum’s hair on the road.”

When Talia opens her mouth to pry further, Allison quickly jumps in. “What do you two want to be done?” She asks, looking between Laura and Sheena.

“...Can you teach me how to wing my eyeliner?” Sheena asks carefully. She's curious about Neil’s past, yet her and Jack’s ‘mission’ isn’t exactly a priority right now.

“Oh! Me too and my eyebrows are in serious need of a manicure,” Laura smiles. “Might make people stop staring at this,” she gestures to the patchwork pattern from loss of pigment on her dark skin. She frowns in confusion when Neil snorts.

“No one is looking at your Vitiligo the way you think,” Neil assures her and points at his own face, at the burns he doesn’t bother to hide. “If they are looking at my blue eyes and aren’t focused on this disaster like the Foxes say, then they sure as hell aren’t looking at that, but your green eyes or your smile.” He offers his kindest smile and resumes tearing off some sheets of aluminum foil to bleach sections of Talia’s hair.

Laura blushes as she smiles down at her lunch. Sheena stares at Neil, the pit in her stomach grows heavier and she recognizes it as guilt when Allison raises a brow at her. She jolts into action when Allison motions at her with a selection of eyeliners to teach her as requested. Sheena goes toward her, unable to look Neil in the eye anymore.

 

\---

 

Ever since Nicky's eased up on the perverse comments and blatant flirtatiousness with anyone with a dick, Aaron had to admit that he and Nicky had been getting along. It made him want to help his typically peppy and happy cousin because seeing Nicky fake a smile and later bawl his eyes out in Neil's arms while telling him and Andrew about his mother's phone call regarding the trial made something clench in his chest. He assumes Bee would call it love or affection for the man four years his senior, who had taken on his and Andrew’s guardianship, even though they knew next to nothing about each other.

Most of the Foxes are busy - Neil is spending lunch with Allison and Renee, getting a much-needed haircut (thank _god_ someone was making sure that unruly mess stayed under control). Kevin and Andrew are attempting to ‘spend quality time’ together - without Neil - again. Matt and Dan kicked him out of the dorm room he and Matt shared and Katelyn's at practice. Matt and he are attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting with Evans, after therapy with Andrew and Neil.

That left him with a sulking Nicky for the afternoon.

“Nicky," he asks, uncertainty in his stomach. He asks anyway. "Will you teach me how to drive?” Andrew had never allowed him to get his permit, let alone his license. He thinks that maybe it’s time.

The change is immediate as he watches Nicky perk up from where he had parked himself in a beanbag chair to binge on Spanish soap operas. His usual sparkle returns to his warm brown eyes and his cheeks pinken with excitement.

“I thought you’d never ask!”

Honestly, Aaron should have known that Nicky would bounce up, calling Andrew and asking him for the keys for the Maserati, hanging up as soon as he gets a definite answer, grabbing they keys and yanking Aaron out of the door in the blink of an eye, but he was still surprised.

 

~

 

However, he is far more surprised that, considering how insane both his twin and cousin drive, that Nicky actually _knows_ the laws and how to drive _properly_. Since Andrew drove last, the Maserati is already set up for someone his size, but Nicky goes through the entire checklist before allowing him to even start the car. It reminds him how responsible Nicky can be, and it feels good, knowing that this is his guardian.

“Okay,” Nicky claps and then rubs his hands together after Aaron has checked everything from the position of the mirrors, to what each light on the dashboard means. “This is a manual car, so you need to learn how to pop a clutch. You’ll probably end up stalling a million times, but once you get the rhythm, it’s super easy!”

Aaron stares at Nicky, trying to not let the headache that's forming show in his eyes. “Okay… is Andrew going to kill me if I fuck up the engine or whatever?”

Nicky pauses. “When I asked for the keys to teach you how to drive, he didn’t even hesitate, so I’m guessing - actually, let’s just go over the process.” Nicky beams and then takes a deep breath, spewing out the step by step process on how to put the car in gear and what to do when downshifting.

Aaron’s head is spinning by the time Nicky tells him to start the car, but Nicky’s genuine enthusiasm reminds him why he went to Nicky in the first place. Honestly, he would have gone to Matt or even Neil, first, but Nicky needs this distraction, what with his trial coming up in less than two weeks.

The actual driving of the car is a lot less complicated than what he had been imagining, only stalling thrice during his first half of a lap around the parking lot. By the time he’s made his fourth lap, he stalls only once while downshifting. When he gets to the tenth lap, he isn’t stalling at all and imagines this is what Nascar drivers feel like, always turning left.

“You’re doing excellent!” Nicky praises wholeheartedly when Aaron slows down to pull into Andrew’s spot, having completed his seventeenth lap. “Okay, parking can be a little more complicated…” Nicky begins giving instructions on how to do so, chuckling when Aaron stalls the car and has to scramble for the brake when they begin to roll. “That’s okay! It’s your first lesson, we can practice more tomorrow!”

“He should get his learner's permit first.” Kevin pops his head in the open window of the Maserati, startling Aaron. He’s sporting a fresh hickey that Nicky immediately grins at.

“Why? I never legally obtained my license,” Neil interrupts from behind Kevin before either Aaron or Nicky can respond. “The FBI just kind of… gave me one.”

There is a brief period of silence and then Andrew sighs from where he's standing next to Neil.

“Why am I not surprised?” Aaron asks while climbing out of the driver’s seat, switching with his twin.

“ _I’m_ surprised that _anything_ surprises you any more about me, Aaron.” This comment earns Neil a harsh tug on his freshly trimmed and styled fringe from Aaron, making the redhead grin. “Come on Nicky, Aaron, get in the back you two, we have to get to practice.”

“God, you’re bossy,” Nicky fake whines, but does as he’s told, sandwiching Neil between him and Aaron. “I like your haircut,” he flirts, petting Neil’s hair and nipping his neck. He’s in a much better mood after spending the last couple of hours teaching Aaron the basics of driving, aka bossing Aaron around.

“Right here!” Aaron properly complains, leaning away from a laughing Neil.

“Stop trying to make out in my car,” Andrew deadpans while pointlessly adjusting everything in the driver’s seat. He’d rather not see Neil makeout with his cousin if he can help it.

“Sorry!” Nicky giggles. Neil grins and Aaron groans in annoyance.

 

\---

 

“I still don’t get why they get to leave before practice is even halfway through on Wednesdays,” Sheena comments, watching the twins and Neil exit the court. The moment they set foot on the court, Neil shifted from being nice to demanding and Jack lured her back into their ‘mission’ judging every little thing about him.

“Josten wants to lead us, and he can’t even attend all of practice?” Jack tacks on while they are switching up teams for another scrimmage, Dan replacing Neil as a striker. Laura steps in for Andrew as a goalie.

“Do you idiots _ever_ do anything than rag on your teammates?” Laura hisses.

“Mind your own fucking business, fucking cow!” Jack directly attacks her skin pigment disorder and doesn’t notice Sheena go still beside him, because he's not normally so blatant in his prejudice insults.

Laura Watts, who had first noticed in middle school that her dark skin had started losing pigment in random patches on her body, including her face and hair, stills when she hears his comment. She bares her teeth, prepared to fight back after having been bullied all throughout middle and high school when an exy ball cracks loudly against Jack’s helmet. Sheena flinches away while Jack yelps in pain.

“How about you go fuck yourself, Bremer!” Talia shrieks from several yards away. She’s listened to Laura’s insecurities and experiences regarding her vitiligo enough times to know how shitty of a comment that was. Just after Neil built up her confidence...

“Glad to know you’re racist, as well as homophobic. A well-rounded piece of shit,” Allison hisses, pulling at Nicky’s and Renee’s grip on her, holding her back. They always know when she’s ready to get in a brawl.

“Congratulations, Bremer,” Dan frowns, gripping her racquet hard. “You’ve just earned yourself laps for the rest of practice!”

“I-” Before Jack can argue, ears ringing from the ball hitting his helmet, coach Wymack is pounding on the plexiglass, demanding to know what the hold up is. Jack glances over and then back to his team, noting that Sheena has taken a few steps away from him and sees not only Matt’s and Renee’s disapproving stares but Kevin’s _exhausted_ and ashamed one, shaking his head as he turns his back on him. His throat goes dry.

“ _And_ you can tell coach why you will be spending the next three hours running!” Dan tacks on. She only relaxes her tense muscles when Matt touches her arm. No words needed.

Each of the Foxes are in some form, a minority - including Jack - and has dealt with prejudice for most, if not their entire lives. Despite this, Jack just keeps pushing and pushing and hurting.

Jack turns without another word and walks off of the court to face coach Wymack.

He’s apparently the first person to ever be signed up for the constantly threatened Marathon.

 

\---

 

Sheena stares at Jack for a long time, the two of them standing outside of Fox Tower when he grabbed her hand before they could go in. Being partially black herself and having been verbally attacked for that alone, Jack’s shitty comment toward Laura stung a bit.

“Sheena…” Jack swallows, trailing off. He has no idea what to say.

Sheena focuses on lighting a cigarette. Despite having tried to quit, she needs it right now. She only looks up to blow a ring of smoke at Jack, raising her perfectly manicured eyebrow -courtesy of Allison- at him. “Yeah?”

“I’m…” Jack looks away and rubs the back of his neck. “That was shitty of me… I… I’m sorry,” he finally says.

“Don’t choke on that apology, it might kill you.”

“I don’t even know why I said it. I-”

“Does my mixed race _offend_ you?”

Jack stiffens at this. “No! I just… I just wanted to hurt her, Watts, she is-”

“A minority, like me, like all of the Foxes.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Why do you hate Josten?”

“ _Why_ ? He’s a Wesninski - _The Butcher of Baltimore's son!_ He’s the son of a serial killer, he’s fucking crazy too - and dating another psychopath - and cheating on said psycho! I don’t feel safe around him… Do you?”

Sheena bites her lip, covering it up by taking a long, slow drag of her cigarette as she questions herself. True, she’d been apprehensive of being on the same team as Josten and Minyard - both of the twins, the way they carry themselves makes her nervous. Yet… hanging out with the girls today… well the girls and Josten, she swore she saw something more than the name Wesninski lead her to believe. “Jack…”

“He’s _killed_ people!”

Also true… Sheena sighs. “I don’t know, Jack…”

“Then let’s just see what he’s up to, come on, you’re my partner in this!” Jack places a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her as he steals her cigarette.

Sheena can’t help but blush, looking up at him and cracking a smile. “You don’t smoke,” she says just before he coughs, and she has to laugh, grinning.

“Fuck, that’s disgusting,” Jack comments between coughs.

“Alright, fine, come on.” She waves her keys at him and heads back toward the parking lot. “You said they were heading back to the court tonight? When?”

Jack beams, following after her. “Yeah, Kevin asked Josten if they could go early for their night practice at dinner - I heard him ask when we were getting dinner, he looked upset.”

Sheena’s brow pinches in confusion. “So? They have night practices all the time, why do-”

“Kevin chose _me_ as his recruit. _Me_ , I wanna know what they're up to!”

“...Not sure what this has to do with him cheating, but okay.”

 

\---

 

"They're still screaming at each other..." Sheena comments softly, staring down at the court from the dark corner of the Foxhole Court stadium that they are hiding in. She sighs, wondering why she let Jack convince her to do this, they haven’t done much together since they learned Neil was cheating on Andrew. For a while, she was sure that Jack would ask her out. So far, no dice. However, after the way he behaved today, she’s not sure she’d say yes. 

"I wish I could hear what they are saying," Jack huffs, just as quiet as Sheena. He leans forward, resting his arms on his knees, straining to hear Kevin and Neil, as they have been for the last hour. They hear the shouting, but can't make sense of any of the words, they could be speaking French for all they know.

Even though they are screaming at each other, Kevin and Neil are ten times as intense now, as they are during team practice. They are already intense players during practice, but right now, Jack won't admit it, but he's glad he's not down there. Kevin and Neil have been taking turns switching between Backliner and Striker to defend the goal from the other and have been checking each other pretty hard. Between that and running drill after drill, this is the hardest he’s seen either of them go. Jack has to smirk when Kevin checks Neil so hard to the point he needed a minute to get up, he stops when Neil checks Kevin just as hard.

"They play like..." Jack starts, trying to think of a way to describe them.

"Like Ravens," Sheena finishes for him softly. "Kevin was a Raven first, remember? I don't know about Josten though... " She shrugs. "Maybe Kevin's been holding these night practices for a lot longer than you thought."

"Which is ridiculous," Jack spits and then sighs, not continuing and they just continue to observe for another half hour, eye drooping, asses falling asleep.

"Maybe they screamed themselves hoarse," Sheena suggests, watching Neil and Kevin just talking normally now, helmets off and set on the court floor with their racquets. Kevin gestures wildly as he talks at Neil, who is standing with his hands on his hips, bobbing his head along in understanding, taking what he says to heart - at least that's what it looks like.

"If only Josten could lose his voice forever," Jack smirks at his own words.

"No..." Sheena's eyes widen as she watches Neil get closer and closer to Kevin until he's grabbing Kevin's hands and holding them in his. Her phone is opened to the camera, zooming in as far as she can on the two strikers.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jack hisses as Neil pulls Kevin down for a kiss, the tall striker relaxing is visible even from this distance. "Every single one of them is a fucking psychopath if they are involved with him. Minyard is dating a fucking whore." 

"I wonder," Sheena starts, looking at Jack who raises his eyebrow at her. "I wonder who else he's fucking around with, for all we know, some of the other freshmen could be and you're not certain about Aaron. You also can't prove much about Hemmick."

"True... I... Hemmick mentioned something about a trial regarding the twins. Then, Josten and the twins left practice early to see Dr. Dobson today." Jack stares at Sheena as if she could pull answers out of thin air for him.

"I don’t know what that could mean, they leave early every Wednesday, but I overheard Renee talking to Dan and Allison in the locker room today. Nothing incriminating, just her reminding they have to see Dr. Dobson today. Again, not sure why she’d mention it since it’s a normal occurrence." Sheena shrugs, eyes fixed on the two strikers on the court, just holding hands and talking to each other softly. 

"This is fucked up, I'm not sure what to think at this point, I mean, I actually thought pretty highly of Kevin, but now?" Jack groans and buries his face in his hands for a few moments. When he looks up Neil is holding Kevin which looks rather awkward, seeing as Kevin is leaning over him with his arms around Neil, but it is very obvious by their posture, that Neil is comforting Kevin. 

"For fuck's sake... finally." Sheena breathes a sigh of relief when the strikers part and gather up their racquets, helmets and start collecting the balls. When they are done, they head off the court, Kevin stopping Neil before they open the door, to say something, earning himself another kiss. Honestly, Sheena isn’t sure what to think. Originally she couldn’t stand Neil and truly thought Kevin to be a prissy drama queen after meeting him in person. And now? She has no idea what to think.

Once Kevin and Neil are off the court, Sheena and Jack wait five minutes before descending the stairs of the stadium and exit through the away team’s locker room. Walking through the parking lot, they jump when a car alarm blares, headlights flashing from a car parked close to the athlete's entrance. Both of them stare at Andrew Minyard, leaning on the hood of his Maserati, blank-faced even though his car's alarm must be deafening.  

Andrew uses his fob to shut off the alarm and somehow maintains eye contact with both Sheena and Jack simultaneously. Without the glare of the flashing high beams, they see Andrew spinning a knife in his hand with ease. Both freshmen take a step back when Andrew pushes off of the hood and moves toward them. The smile on his face is bone-chilling. 

"What did I tell you, John?" Andrew asks in the most uninterested tone either of them has ever heard. "No one likes to be spied on. Leave Josten alone because I will not stop him from doing as he wishes when he finds out." Andrew pauses, maybe thinking about his next words. "That is if he doesn't already know."  

Neither catches it, but somehow Andrew makes the knife vanish as he returns to the driver's seat of the car, pausing with the door open and looks up, acting as if he were surprised that they are still standing there.

"Run along now, before the two junkies come out," Andrew makes a shooing motion with his hand, triggering them into scurrying through the dark parking lot and sprinting back to Sheena's car that they parked out of sight from anyone passing by and head back to Fox Tower.

Sheena side eyes Jack on the way back, wondering if this is worth the trouble. If this is worth risking her scholarship to PSU. She wonders if Andrew knows what Neil is doing behind his back and wonders why Jack is so adamant in this ‘mission’. She was invested at the start, but now… Now she wonders what she was thinking in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sheena... gurl... stop listening to Jack, he's a dickwad. Jack. Stahp being a dickwad, please.


	4. Thursday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's focus on the freshmen for a lil bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... went in a direction I wasn't expecting.
> 
> Please enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to my beautiful wifey for editing! <3

Laura is thankful that she is already flushed from her work out -her vitiligo makes her blush much more easily- when Talia puts her hands on her to soothe her aching shoulder. She’d complained about it while lifting weights, immediately gaining the concern of Talia and wound up receiving a massage to soothe the pain - only to hiss when she starts working the knot out. Curse her bisexual heart for wanting to find more excuses to get her teammate to touch her, without being too obvious.

“You didn’t do this just now,” Talia murmurs, brow pinched at how tight Laura’s shoulder is.

“Nah, slept wrong - or it’s just our crappy dorm beds,” Laura laughs and hisses when Talia’s thumb digs into the muscle a little too hard again.

“You could layer more blankets or buy a mattress topper,” Sheena suggests after a moment, returning her hand weights to the rack and picked up her water bottle from the floor. “It’ll make the bed more comfortable - though I don’t think they’re that bad.”

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t that make her sink further into the mattress?” Talia frowns, guiding Laura through another stretch. She blinks when Sheena scoffs and yanks away from them. “Did I say something wrong?”

Laura turns to watch Sheena go over to Jack, a scowl on her would be pretty face - if it weren’t for that expression or their knowledge that she was most likely complaining about them to Jack. Laura looks up at Talia and smiles when Talia does, heart fluttering at her genuine kindness.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Talia reassures and gives Laura’s shoulder another squeeze. “How does that feel? Better?” When she watches Laura flex and rotate her arm, she tilts her head at the way her cheeks darken and she won’t meet her eyes, but smiles and nods at her. “Great!” 

“Thanks, Talia.”

“Any time Laura.”

“Alright, Maggots!” Coach Wymack slams into the weight room, holding his phone and clipboard. When he sees that his Foxes have all stopped what they are doing and look to him, save for Andrew, powering through his reps and Neil running on the treadmill, he grunts in mock annoyance. “We’re cutting our morning workout short so you can grab a bite to eat because we’re moving court practice up from two pm to ten am and we’ll go until three this afternoon. Don’t you argue!” He snaps when a few of them begin to question him. 

“Got it?” Wymack asks and when given a chorus of ‘yes coach’ he sighs, looking at his clipboard. “I need Day, Josten, Hemmick and both Minyards, in my office. Now. Move it!” With that, he turns on his heel and walks over to the weight room office with those in question following him.

“What could the Monsters have possibly done since breakfast to ruin my plans for our lunch break?” Allison complains loudly, adjusting the setting on the weights of the leg machine she is on before getting up and sprays the pleather down with the cleaner beside it, wiping it clean.

“Allison…” Renee sighs at her girlfriend from across the room.

“Maybe-” Jack starts, causing not only the four upperclassmen to give him a sharp look, but Derek and Talia as well, so he immediately snaps his mouth shut. Given that he already has to run a marathon come Sunday, he’ll keep his comments to himself. For now.

The remainder of the group is just finishing cleaning up after themselves when the office door opens, Wymack walking out in front of a stone-faced Andrew.

“You’ve only got forty minutes to fuck off and do whatever, get out of my gym!” Wymack snaps, not liking how Jack and Sheena focus intently on the 'Monsters'.

Derek rolls his eyes at Jack when he falters to watch a guarded Neil leading a clearly shaken up Aaron out of the office with his arm around him. Nicky is seconds away from crying, staring at the back of Aaron’s head. Kevin and his focused expression is probably the only thing keeping Nicky together with his hand on his shoulder, steering him out of the weight room and into the locker room.

“You’re wasting time, Bremer,” Derek says loudly, his own arm thrown around Evans’ shoulders and guides his trembling teammate to the locker room himself.  

Jack sneers at Derek and throws the school provided towel he used into the hamper by the door, grinning when he sees Sheena. “Sheena!” He calls out to her before she can follow the girls into the womens locker room. “Wanna grab a coffee with me?” He likes her and spending every day with her lately has been extremely exciting. Not to mention he feels like he should make it up for what he said to Laura yesterday - indirectly insulting Sheena as well. 

Sheena tilts her head at Jack, noting the hopeful look in his eyes and smiles. “Yeah, I’ll meet you in the hall.” They separate, going into the locker rooms and when Sheena walks in, she’s met with the stares of the three upperclass **wo** men. “What?” Sheena ignores her teammates in favor of going to the locker she selected between Renee and Laura. 

Dan looks at Renee and Allison, stepping forward with the intention of breaking the ice _calmly_ , but Allison, being… Allison, speaks up instead. 

“I can’t imagine why you willingly hang out with that asshole,” Allison hisses, her fingers weaving the right side of her head into a french braid, the left side already finished. There isn’t enough time to get properly made up between now and practice, so she’ll go for the cute sporty look that Renee likes. 

Sheena stares at Allison, glares, really. “Why do you care?”

“He’s-” Dan starts again.

“A piece of shit,” Allison snaps, tying the end of her braid with a hair tie. “He’s homophobic, racist and just all around nasty.”

Sheena bristles at that. “That’s because you guys don’t give him a chance!”

“No, I didn’t give the Monsters a chance,” Allison tells her coolly and grins when that draws a confused expression to Sheena’s face. “Minyard One was a giant prick until Josten came here, didn’t you know? Then our favorite pretty redhead came, made Day less of a dick and Minyard less psycho and united us all - perfect fairy tale story? Don’t you think so Ren?”

Renee laughs, her serene smile back on her lips. “I think it was a little more complicated than that, but yes, Andrew has been happier with Neil around.”

Allison grins and strokes a lock of rainbow hair behind Renee’s ear. “Anyway, honey,” she looks at Sheena again, who had been stock still in the middle of changing and levels her with a serious expression. “I’ve dated my fair share of assholes - Ren’s the only angel thus far…” Allison swallows, thoughts of Seth surfacing - soothed when Renee takes her hand. “Bremer has a shitty attitude and a drive to make everyone but Day miserable. What’s the deal?”

Sheena stares at Allison, briefly glancing at her and Renee’s hand holding and turns to finish changing into her street clothes. “We’re friends, I don’t treat him like a piece of shit, so we get along, try it some time.”

“We do,” Dan reminds her, arms folded over her chest, eyebrow raised. “Neil has a mouth on him, but he doesn’t pick fights, he finishes them, Bremer attacked him from day one. Renee is nice to _everyone_ and he avoids her like the plague. I mean, Andrew, who _hates_ everyone is more far more respectful. I mean… I’m not even gonna try going down the line, but seriously, Sheena, if you can get him to play nice, fine, but we don’t want you to get hurt. You’re our teammate too.” 

Sheena pauses in grabbing her bag, looking over at her captain from the corner of her eye and bites her lip. When she got here, in the beginning, she didn’t know anybody and had a hard time trying to talk to the original nine Foxes who all greeted each other like family. Jack came up to her first and she admittedly latched on to him, despite his obvious disdain for their vice-captain and willingness to voice mainly negative opinions about everyone. She shakes her head and shrugs her bag on over her shoulder.

“We’re grabbing coffee, I’ll see you at practice.” Sheena scurries out of the locker room with her head down and when she’s out into the hall looks up at Jack when he greets her.

“Ready!?” Jack grins, tugging on one of her curls.

Sheena grins back at Jack when met with his bright greeting, the anxiety that had been building when talking with her teammates easing up. They don’t see how nice he is when you give him a chance, she tells herself. “Seeing as I’m driving, yeah!” Sheena bravely grabs onto Jack’s arm as they walk, blushing when Jack pulls his arm free and wraps it around her instead, bringing a wide smile to her face.

 

\---

 

“Renee and Allison are a couple,” Sheena announces to Jack, sitting in the freshmen boy’s lounge with him, eating a dinner of Thai take-out. Their Thursday team dinner was rescheduled to Friday as the twins, Kevin, Neil and Nicky were going to be ‘busy’ with something or another for the evening. The five of them were different during practice too - this week has been rather strange though, so it isn’t a huge surprise. 

“Really?” Jack scoffs and shoves a forkful of noodles into his mouth, chews, and swallows before continuing. “Sure they aren’t fucking Josten too?” 

Sheena shrugs, regretting bringing up the other Foxes for discussion, they had been quietly enjoying their meal, talking about their class schedules until the thought popped into her head. Their coffee… date? was nice because they ended up debating which was better - Dunkin or Starbucks, they came to an agreement that indie coffee shops are better than both. She’d like to take advantage of having the dorm to themselves as Evans and Derek went to get dinner with the upperclassmen - Talia and Laura had made themselves scarce after practice for Abby to look at Laura’s shoulder. Can they just- 

“I wonder what they could be doing, they haven’t returned yet…” Jack starts, twirling his noodles in the container. “I mean, they’ve all been acting weird lately - think it’s something like drugs? Aaron has a drug abuse history, so does Boyd and Evans.”

Sheena frowns at that. “Neither Aaron or Boyd use and they’re helping Evans get better, they took him to Narcotics Anonymous last night. I heard Derek asking Boyd about it while we were doing drills.”

Jack is surprised for a brief moment but doesn’t let it show. “I thought they were coddling him, should just stick him in a rehab.”

“But that’s not what the Foxes are about, coach Wymack scouts troubled kids with a talent for exy, who most likely wouldn’t be scouted because of their backgrounds.” _At least that’s what he told me_ , Sheena thinks and sets her container down, tugging the sleeves of her shirt over her hands, hugging her knees to her chest. She cried after getting the call from Wymack, being told she would have a place in the world after leaving the foster care system when she turned eighteen. Her government funds bought her the car that she essentially lived out of for _so_ long.

“Sheena? You okay?” Jack wanted to make a snide comment about their shitty team, but seeing Sheena’s mood deflate, reminded him of the crosshatch scars along the insides of her arms and thighs, visible only when she wears her uniform.

“Eh,” Sheena sighs and ruffles her hair before remembering it’s up in a bun and yanks the tie free, releasing a thick mess of tight curls over her shoulders. She realizes Jack is staring at her and blushed, averting her eyes.

Jack makes a noise of surprise, unsure why and starts cleaning up their meal. He focuses on putting the containers in the mini refrigerator and then slips into his bedroom to look out the window where the parking lot is visible. The black Maserati that Andrew drives is nowhere to be seen, neither is Matt’s truck or Allison’s orange convertible.  “Let’s go snoop in Josten’s room before they get back.” He suggests when he walks back into the lounge, finding Sheena going through her bag.

Sheena raises her eyebrow at the suggestion but shrugs and gets up. “They lock their suite, don’t they? How are we going to get in?”

“Have a bobby pin?” Jack asks with a mischievous look on his face. 

Sheena supplies one without question, too curious.

 

~

 

“This is bigger than the girls’ suite,” Sheena comments mostly to herself, wandering around the lounge and at the kitchen where Jack went to immediately after picking the lock open. There are a few bean bag chairs surrounding a wide screen television with several games and consoles surrounding it. A recliner and a couch behind the bean bag chairs. She hears the refrigerator door slam closed as well as several cabinet doors and looks up from the stack of games to see Jack walking into the living room area.

“They don’t have any booze here,” Jack frowns and looks at the two separate gaming consoles, immediately feeling jealous. “They go out clubbing every Friday, you’d think they would keep it around.”

Sheen rolls her eyes playfully. “What, were you planning on stealing some?” She heads toward the open bedroom door and immediately notes that it is Nicky’s room. “The amount of gay pride is a bit... intense.” She stares at the rainbow flag acting as a curtain over his window and the tie-dye comforter on his bed. 

“Blech,” Jack gags while shaking his head, but still moves around the room, standing at the desk where Nicky’s laptop sits and moves on, rolling his eyes at the picture frame on his nightstand. “So… Hemmick already has a boyfriend?” He sneers.

“Nicky talks about Erik all the time during practice,” Sheena nods and then pauses in realization. “So they are cheating on their boyfriends with each other?” Sheena frowns, looking at the picture of Nicky with an admittedly attractive blonde man, their arms around each other.  

“They want people to accept them, but they still fuck around behind their partner's back, gross.” Jack gags and shudders, putting the picture back where he found it and migrates out of Nicky’s room and opens the mostly closed, second bedroom door. Walking in he immediately stops at the sight of the two beds pushed together.

“What is it?” Sheena frowns, pushing at Jack’s back because he’s blocking the doorway. “Well, that answers one question,” she comments upon seeing the messy double bed and steps into the room. On one of the two desks in use are several picture frames, some of the pictures she recognizes from the wall in the Fox lounge but - “Huh,” she picks up a frame that has Nicky and the same man - Erik - from the one in Nicky’s room but with Neil in the frame as well, both of them hugging Neil. Beside it is one of Neil with Jeremy Knox and Jean Moreau, on a pier in California; Jean’s bandaged hands around Neil’s waist in his effeminate outfit and Jeremy clinging to Jean.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Jack growls, holding another picture, one that was laying face down. It’s a selfie that Kevin had taken, Neil is clinging to his back, both of them smiling and Andrew looking up at the camera with a blank expression and a sucker in his mouth. “They’re… together? The three of them? Then-”

“Something like that.”

Jack and Sheena jump a mile high, both of them dropping the picture frames onto the desk and whirl around to find Andrew Minyard, five foot, and a ball of rage standing in the doorway while playing on his phone. They can hear the blood rushing in their ears, neither of them breathing.

“When did you come in?” Jack demands, earning a shocked look from Sheena and a raised eyebrow from Andrew.

“It’s my room, I have to wonder when _you_ got in,” Andrew slips his phone in his pocket and retrieves a knife, flicks it open and spins it effortlessly in his hand. “Care to share?” 

The smile he offers them makes Sheena take a step back, looking down. “An-Andrew, sorry we- we just-”

“Were snooping around,” Andrew finishes for her and runs his eyes over the clearly terrified backliner and turns his attention to Jack, deciding he’s the real problem here. From what he’s seen, Jack’s a manipulative, prejudice asshole that hates everyone. 

“Listen here, you fucking psycho - your - fuck!” Jack stops talking when Andrew lunges forward with the knife pointed at his throat. A bead of sweat trickles down Jack’s temple, back pressed against the dresser situated in front of the window by a psychotic midget. “Let go! 

“I keep telling you that you need to back off, that when Josten finds out, you’re not going to like it.” Andrew tilts his head, pressing the knife harder to Jack’s throat, not yet drawing blood. “I did not think I would have to tell you to watch out for _me_. I don’t like it when my things are messed with.” 

Sheena glances between Jack and Andrew, wringing her hands and panicking with tears in her eyes. “Andrew, let him go, please-” 

“I don’t like that word,” Andrew lolls his head to look at Sheena, using the knife to point at her. “I know you’re thick in the head, probably a stupid needy fool, easy to sweet talk. It’s why you follow this fucker around, right?” He points the knife at Jack, maintaining eye contact with Sheena and presses the knife against Jack’s Adam's apple when he tries to argue again. “Renee told me about your little heart to heart earlier. Says that Reynolds and ‘oh captain my captain’ think you can do better.”

Sheena stares wide-eyed at Andrew, mouth opening and closing, at a loss at what to say as her mind is blank. She looks up at Jack, there is rage in his face but eyes are full of fear, staring at her. She looks back at Andrew and looks down when he nods his head toward the door, walking out of his room and out of the suite entirely. Thankfully her roommates aren’t back when she slips inside her own suite and crawls into bed with the blankets over her head, unwilling to think about what Andrew said, but does so anyway when looking at the white scars hidden beneath her sleeves.

 

~

 

“Alright Johnny boy, you and me, me and you,” Andrew looks up at Jack when Sheena is gone. “I knew you were stupid - all of you are - but I thought you would have realized that I know what you and Maugeri were up to and would lay low. Not snoop around my things when you thought I wouldn’t be around.” 

“How did you even know?” Jack sneers. “Your car isn’t in the parking lot.”

“I have a knife at your throat and that is what you’d like to know?” 

“If your boyfriend, whatever he is, sees this what do you think he’ll think?”

“You said it yourself, he’s a Wesninski,” Andrew wipes the smirk off Jack’s face. “Well… _was_ , a Wesninski. The Butcher of Baltimore killed him. The man you call Wesninski is Neil Josten and it is in your best interest to stop trying to remind him of who he was before he shows you who that person used to be.”

“You’re fucking psychotic! You’re dating a whore and a killer!” Jack hisses as a nick is sliced into his neck and begins to ooze slowly. “I’ll tell coach that-”

“You broke into my room and I thought you were someone dangerous and that I just had to defend myself,” Andrew snorts and shoves Jack to the side, stepping back. “This is above Wymack’s pay grade, now fuck off. This is your _last_ warning, fuck with me and mine again, it won’t end well for you.”

Jack glares at Andrew from where he stumbled into Neil’s dresser. “Lunatic,” he hisses before hauling ass out of the suite and into his own. With headphones in, he plans to avoid his teammates for the rest of the evening while he tries to figure out what he just learned and what to do about it. How can he get Neil _and_ Andrew off the team?

 

~

 

Andrew smirks while cleaning off his knife and when that is put away begins to dig through his dresser, retrieving a brand new pack of cigarettes and his and his (not)boyfriends’ hoodies. A text makes his phone chirp and rolls his eyes at Kevin’s message.

 

Princess: Where r u? How long does it take to grab your cancer sticks?

Andrew: be quiet or u won’t get ur hoodie

Princess: :( It’s for babi boi.

Andrew: stop calling him that

Princess: -sent an image-

 

Andrew stares at the picture of the backseat of the Maserati that Kevin sent, Nicky has Neil sitting in his lap with his legs stretched across Katelyn’s and Aaron’s laps. All three of them are trying to warm him up - the dumbass wore his short-shorts and a t-shirt on a rainy day for some stupid reason - Neil’s cheeks are pink and he’s grinning. Aaron looks much brighter than the shell-shocked, scared version that was in Bee’s office, sitting with his girlfriend, friends, and cousin. Katelyn giggling and Nicky kissing Neil’s scarred cheek - probably why Neil was blushing. It creates a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach and decides he likes it but-

 

Andrew: stop that

Princess: :)

 

Shaking his head, Andrew throws the hoodies over his shoulder and opens his pack of cigarettes on the way out of the suite, placing one between his lips. He exits through the side door of Fox Tower where he parked at the curb, chest clenching when everyone in the car shouts-

“Andrew!” 

\- When they see him. He rolls his eyes and lights up his cigarette while staring at Kevin in the front passenger seat and Neil hanging part way out of the windows, which leads to him unceremoniously throwing their hoodies into Kevin’s face and walks around to the driver’s seat. 

They are way too excited to be going out to eat as they skipped both a proper lunch and dinner after practice, but in actuality, they needed the pick-me-up after meeting with the lawyer, Aaron’s court date being scheduled for next Thursday instead of in September. Kevin and Neil said it’s better to get it out of the way so it doesn’t interfere with games or classes. Nicky realized why his mother called him about Aaron’s case on Tuesday. Aaron, however, was amazed to find out that someone came forward in Aaron’s favor about Drake. Everyone is still on edge and ready to get this over with, just one more week. 

One more week and they can go back to worrying about (laughing at) nosy, asshole freshmen and listen to Kevin bitch about how no one is taking this seriously.

“What took you so long?” Nicky asks while nuzzling Neil's curls when Andrew pulls from the curb when everyone is situated with their hoodies.

“Ran into John,” he answers honestly. Aaron, Nicky and Kevin groan. “Don’t worry, I didn’t stab him.” He smirks briefly at Neil's amused laugh.

“Good because we don’t need to close one case, just to open another,” Aaron grumbles and slumps against Katelyn. “Where are we going for dinner?”

Kevin sees a smirk threatening to spread across Andrew’s face. “No fast food or junk food! At least a buffet where I can get something healthy.”

“Oh Kevin, you think you have a choice here.”

He does give him a choice though when Kevin looks at him with those pretty green eyes of his and asks him softly ‘for me?’. How could he resist that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEN ANDREW OF ALL PEOPLE TELLS YOU SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SHEENA, YOU. SHOULD. LISTEN.
> 
> ....
> 
> Sheena's character has been difficult for me, she's not a bitch just... wants to fit in and doesn't know any way to do it other than the way she is. But girl...
> 
> So yeah, Sheena is realizing Jack is a bag of dicks. Jack is a fucking idiot, poking the bear and... THE BEAR HAS A POINTY STABBY!
> 
> Yes, Andrew lists Kevin as 'Princess' as his contact in his phone. :3
> 
> I'm setting ya'll up for Aaron's arch - which is actually focusing on his trial! Look out for the fic when I get to it!
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! <3


	5. Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know each other better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that this was so late! I've been moving and everything. Oof. But its here! Enjoy! 
> 
> Friendly reminder; Evans' first name is Benji. (Despite it being cute af, he hates it because he was bullied for it) 
> 
> Thanks to my lovely friend Fuzzballsheltiepants, for editing!
> 
> Also, Fox Hunt Friday sounds like the title of a music album. Lol. 
> 
> I hate Jack.
> 
> ... Enjoy. ♡

Jack yawns loudly as he sits up in bed on the top bunk, having claimed it from an indecisive Evans on the day they moved in. He groans at the sound of Derek’s alarm going off, just a minute after his own phone alarm did.

“Caplan, wake the fuck up and shut that off-” Jack stops when he looks over to the single bed across the room and finds the bed a mess and empty. A glance to the door that the backliner tends to leave open when he goes to the bathroom in the morning is still closed and Jack is confused but still annoyed at the ringing alarm. Hearing a groan from Evans’ bunk, he forces himself to move to his ladder and climbs down.

“You could have done this yourself, Evans,” Jack sneers, stomping over to Derek’s nightstand and practically smashes the ‘dismiss’ selection on the screen and turns back to the bunk to snap at Evans and freezes.

“What the fuck!” He stares at the sight before him; Evans curled up in the fetal position against Derek’s bare chest, who has a pillow held fast over his head. Jack’s eye twitches with disgust, stepping back from his cuddled up teammates who ignore his shouts. “Jesus fuck, everyone on this team is a goddamn faggot!”

“Fuck you Bremer,” Derek mumbles, flipping Jack off before curling closer to Evans, relaxing when he nuzzles into his neck. “Go away, we had a late night.”

Jack’s eyes widen at that. “D-did you two seriously fuck, with me in the room!?” He demands, meeting Derek’s eyes when the backliner drops the pillow to sit up and glare at him. “Under _my_ bed? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Derek sneers at Jack, sick of his bullshit and rubs Evans back since their asshole teammate’s yelling made him flinch. “Why don’t you fuck off, Bremer? Even if we did fuck, it’s none of your goddamn business, but no- he was having nightmares so I comforted my friend. Now go the fuck away!” With that, Derek flops back down and curls around Evans, holding tightly onto his friend, glad when Jack bristles, but ultimately grabs his things and storms out of the room.

“Fuckin’ fags, fuckin’ around while I’m in the room…” Jack curses and slams the door behind him, making Evans jump.

“...Sorry Der…” Evans frowns, firmly pressing his forehead against his friend’s chest but relaxes when hugged tighter.

“You did nothing wrong, E,” Derek assures him and kisses the top of his head. “But we have practice in an hour and I expect you to eat breakfast - think you can try to keep it down today?” He's thrown up after most meals, still going through withdrawal.

“Maybe…” Evans sits up, hugging his knees to his chest as Derek sits up as well, side eyeing him with a faint blush on his cheeks. “D-do you uh… like me, Derek?”

Derek blinks, running a hand through his dark hair and tilts his head at the sight of Evans’ blush. “As a friend or-”

“Never mind!” Evans buries his face in his knees, completely bright red.

Oh.. well, that’s interesting. “Evans…” Derek, smiles, rubbing his back and bends so he can make him meet his eye. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t like you, but I’m ace, Evans, I don’t feel sexual attraction to anyone,” he explains gently. “But I do like you not only as my teammate, but as my friend - I don’t know about more just yet.” Derek chuckles, ruffeling Evans hair, beaming despite his obvious fatigue and circles under his eyes. “Alright?”

Evans’ eyes shine at Derek’s words, knowing he understands and grabs the taller man in a tight hug, relishing in it being reciprocated. “I’m glad you’re my friend, Der.”

“Likewise, E.”

 

\---

 

Jack sneers at the sight of his teammates chattering around the tables that were pushed together for them to eat, their orders placed with the servers that had come over earlier. Everyone is sitting in close proximity, except for Jack, who did his best to sit as far as possible from everyone, arms crossed over his chest while he watches. Allison is beside him, talking animatedly with Sheena of all people, who looks very uncomfortable but is listening attentively from further down the table, sitting between Nicky and Matt.

His eyes land on Derek, beside Matt and Aaron, smiling at Evans and then looking down at his lap -texting, he thinks- before looking up at Evans again with a grin. Evans blushed, and not from having Allison and Dan on either side of him.  He was looking in his lap as well--definitely texting. Nicky commented loudly to Derek, who noticed the transaction, making every Fox who heard laugh delightedly. Derek shows Aaron his phone after getting a nod from Evans, the two of them smirk and Evans flushes but smiles, especially when Allison stops talking to Sheena to grab Evans phone. Evans surrenders it easily and Allison throws a sugar packet at Matt, snapping her fingers. Matt huffs and tells her ‘later’.

What is going on?

Jack turns his sneer on Aaron, for once sans Katelyn, who leans over to whisper something to his twin. He watches the corner of Andrew’s lips lift and _really_ wants to know what was said. When Andrew whispers to Renee, he feels angry and wants to _demand_ to know what is going on.

Today he had to watch Sheena very clearly avoid being alone with him, only smiling nervously and lied about having plans for lunch instead of spending it with him like they have been. Woke up to find Evans and Derek in bed together and awkwardly _flirt_ all day long. Saw how it should have been blatantly obvious that Kevin, Andrew and Neil are in a three-way relationship by the way they move around each other. How the fuck did he miss that? Then there is the way Laura looks at Talia and how Talia responds happily to Laura’s attention.

Or how literally everyone but Andrew -the man who was the only one identified as Neil’s boyfriend- flirts with and showers Neil in affection, their vice-captain soaking it up. Even _Aaron_ is relatively sweet to Neil.

He doesn’t understand how anyone can deal with the son of a serial killer who crossdresses and fucks around behind his partners’ backs. Or _is it_ behind their backs? He has no idea anymore. Either way, Neil is a Wesninski, a criminal himself, a liar and an all around fucked up person.

“While this is fun and all,” Jack starts before he can change his mind. “Just how many of you are fucking Wesninski?” His question makes everyone stop talking and holds his ground as everyone turns their hard gazes on him, he looks to Sheena who is looking very intently at her lap, he hears Talia growl beside him.

“Listen here-” Talia starts, but Andrew speaks up instead.

“Oh John, I’m not sure you can fuck a dead man. Well,” Andrew shrugs. “Necrophilia is illegal and disgusting, but who am I to kink shame.”

“I’m talking about the psychopath right there!” Jack jerks his head toward his blank faced vice captain. “Though, you’re one too, guess it’s why you’re fucking Day as well.” Jack looks at Evans, whose jaw is agape, and then Derek with his angry expression, then Laura and Talia, they don’t look surprised, maybe-

Jack pulls out an envelope from his bag, flinging it across the table at Andrew without looking away from Derek. “Are you fucking him too? As well as Benji?” He smirks when Evans squeaks, but Derek only rolls his eyes.

“You don’t know how to mind your own fucking business, do you?” Derek growls, glancing at Evans to see him shrinking in his seat and being tucked against Dan.

“I have a right to know what my so called leader is up to when it affects me,” Jack challenges and rolls his eyes as several Foxes tell him to fuck off. “He’s fucking Hemmick, your own cousin, Minyard,” he says, looking right at Andrew, who is boredly pulling out the pictures he’d printed off during lunch. “I’ve caught him with Boyd and Wilds wearing _your brother’s_ jacket. I was sur-”

“I told you to stop stealing my clothes, Josten!” Aaron snaps at Neil, throwing one of the sweet-n-low packets at Neil, making several people laugh, the tension lifted at the way Neil beams and laughs.

Jack freezes at this, watching for any sign of the Foxes being upset about this reveal, that Neil is- “Why are you laughing!? He’s a fucking whore!” Jack slams his fist on the table, _livid_.

Talia and Laura had been sharing a knowing expression as Jack revealed his inside information, having seen Neil with Dan and Matt on Monday and the way Renee and Allison interacted with him so affectionately. They didn’t think it to be any of their business, honestly, but did wonder if Andrew knew and judging by his bored expression and relaxed posture, he - okay, not easy to tell. It would seem though, that all of the original Foxes are aware of Neil’s relationship with everyone else though. Why Jack is so upset about what goes on behind closed doors, they really aren’t sure, but they thought _maybe_ an explosive reaction would come from Andrew or Neil about this blatant disregard of privacy and not-

“That is enough! You prejudice, nasty, jealous, talentless and hateful piece of shit!” Derek snaps, standing up so fast his chair knocks backward onto the floor and the server that had been coming over to see what was going on, runs away -probably to get the manager. “I’ve had it with your creepy and obsessive hate towards everyone - especially Neil! You’re no different than the rest of us, we’re Foxes for a reason!”

“Oh really?” Jack sneers, standing up as well and advances Derek when he does so first, internally growling when he hears Allison and Nicky start to take bets and Kevin holding his head in his hands, groaning out ‘why are you such an idiot’ to himself. “Fuck you Caplan, I’ve got more talent than that fucker,” he points at Neil, hating how he rolls his eyes at him. “I’ve been playing since I was eight years old, worked my ass off and this one year rookie, a Wesninski, fucking his way through our team and probably the rest of the school or the state or the police even, has starting line _handed_ to him and made vice-captain? Are you fucking kidding me!? I bet you’re fucking him too, Caplan, it’s why he works with you extra and you definitely need it. Does Benji mind you fucking him behind his back? Or does he wat-” Jack grunts as Derek’s fist slams into his face, blood filling his mouth as his cheek and lip split open, as well as his nose cracking from the force of the punch.

Derek growls, standing over Jack from where he careened into his chair and hit the floor, hand cupping his bloody face. The Foxes are talking animatedly, money exchanging hands and ‘finally someone hit him’ being passed around. Unable to stop shaking, Derek clenches his fists hard and swallows. “Even if he’s sleeping with half the team or the school or the whole fucking country, even if he was born a Wesninski, he’s not a piece of shit like you, Bremer!” Derek shakes out his hand, his knuckles throbbing from hitting his worthless teammate. “Maybe if you focused on practice instead of who is fucking who, or anyone else's business than your own, you wouldn’t suck royally!”

“Doesn’t it bother you that he’s killed people!?” Jack snarls, fighting a wince when that hurts his wounded face.

“This coming from the man who was expelled from two schools for bullying and hospitalizing one kid in middle school?” Sheena shocks everyone by speaking up, a frown on her face. “The man who refuses to seek therapy for his Explosive Personality Disorder?”

“I told you that in confidence!” Jack snaps, throwing himself to his feet, looking around at the faces of his teammates. Most look angry, some are disappointed and tired. “Fuck all of you, y-”

“I am under the impression,” Neil starts, resting his cheek against his fist, smiling sarcastically at Jack. “That you are homophobic, manipulative and an asshole who would in fact, _not_ fuck any of us even if we would let you anywhere near us. You’ve got daddy issues, an inferiority complex and you’re a shitty teammate as well as a shitty friend who dragged Maugeri into it and has been spying on me all week it would seem.” He nods at the pictures Andrew pulled out from the envelope Jack had given him.

“I want you gone, Wesninski,” Jack hisses.

“Good, he’s gone,” Kevin snaps. “But you’re not getting rid of Neil. I don’t care if you have more talent than Neil and I combined, you’re a shit teammate that doesn’t work together with his team and you don’t try hard enough - I regret choosing you as sub-striker.”

Kevin’s words hit Jack like a slap in the face, forcing him to stumble back. He open his mouth to retort but nothing happens, _shocked._

“Let’s put it this way, fuckface,” Aaron waves the photo of the lower half of Neil comforting Nicky in the shower stalls in the air. “All this proves it that Josten is worth something to us and you’re not, because he takes care of us. He’s a Fox, you’re just a fuck.” With that, Aaron crumples the photo and chucks it at Jack, watching the paper bounce off his chest.

“To hell with you!” Jack finally storms out of the restaurant, shoving past that manager and staff that had come around to break it up. He’s beyond pissed and feeling alienated and _betrayed_. Fucking Sheena… how could she tell them that? His record was sealed because he was a minor and made a deal with the judge for- it doesn’t matter. He’ll show them.

 

~

 

Matt is pacifying the upset manager, promising nothing else will happen and apologizes for the disruption with a winning smile. Nicky is hugging Sheena and praising her for standing up to Jack for-

“You protected Baby Boy!” Nicky coos, squeezing her in his arms.

Sheena flushes bright red at the attention, unable to not smile at Nicky’s praise, although confused, seeing as she wasn’t very nice to him this week (or before) but is grateful for it. Sure, she feels bad for ratting Jack out, betraying his trust but she couldn’t take it anymore. The way he tried to hurt his teammates and hurt her in the process wasn’t worth it and after this week. Neil really didn’t seem to be what Jack and the news about Wesninski made him out to be, in any case. The redhead at the head of the table with Kevin -leaning against him!- is smiling as he looks at and laughs at the pictures Jack had given to Andrew with his partners really is a… wait.

“Did you just call him ‘Baby Boy’?” Sheena blinks at Nicky, intrigued, that's what Allison almost called Neil before, isn't it? The explosive laughter from the original Foxes makes her look around at them.

“We all call him that!” Matt explains, sitting back down and grinning at Sheena.

“I don’t,” Aaron and Andrew say in unison; Andrew’s tone bored, Aaron’s snippy.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nicky waves his hand at his cousins and sits back in his chair, beaming. “Most of us do, at least.”

“So, what,” Derek pips up, head tilted. “Are you all actually involved with him?” He looks around, seeing that the Foxes are taking in the situation, thinking. It would appear they think the remaining five freshmen mean no harm, so they answer.

“It’s a little more complicated than that baby cakes,” Allison winks. “Ren and I are exclusive,” she blows a kiss to her girlfriend, smiling affectionately when Renee catches it and pockets it. “Yet Baby Boy comes to us for girl time and Nicky and I make sure he looks fabulous.”

“My fiance Erik, entrusted him to look after me,” Nicky stares longingly at Neil, who rolls his eyes while smiling. “You know you love me.” His smile widens at Neil's affectionate head shake.

“Kevin and Andrew are his actual boyfriends,” Matt ignores Andrew’s disgusted scoff, “but me and Dan take him on dates and well…” he trails off, blushing and grinning.

“Aw, is that where you three were going on Monday?” Laura asks, loving this story, it’s sweet, in her opinion.

“Yeah, he’s needy and so are we,” Dan shrugs and winks at Neil's embarrassed ‘am not’.

“But-” Sheena looks at Aaron across from her, who shakes his head. “Okay, what about everyone else? Do you have something similar with each other?”

“Kev is number three on my ‘if the opportunity arises’ list, but he hasn’t said yes and I’m not allowed to just jump him randomly!” Nicky whines, sending puppy dog eyes towards Kevin.

“You scare me at times, Nicky,” Kevin blinks, uttering an annoyed ‘hey’ when his thigh is pinched by Neil.

“Fair enough,” Nicky sighs and winks but then turns to Matt. “Threesome with me and Baby Boy?” he wiggles his eyebrows as Matt chuckles good naturedly.

“Right! Here!” Aaron complains, slouching in his chair when laughter explodes around the table. “Where is my jacket, Josten?” He snatches up the photo from Neil’s date with Dan and Matt. “Wait- that’s _my_ shirt, too! I haven’t seen them all week.”

Neil shrugs innocently and makes a show of untying the jacket around his waist and slipping it on. “Could it be- oh! I still have it!” He winks, gesturing to the ‘05’ on the breast pocket.

“You have enough boyfriends! Give it back!” Aaron orders, getting to his feet, narrowing his eyes when Neil does too. When Neil bolt, narrowly dodging a server, Aaron chases after him, yelling at Neil to ‘Get back here!’

There is a moment of laughter and head shaking at their antics, but all turn to Andrew when he holds up a blurry, but distinct photo up for everyone to see while he looks at Kevin.

“What happened to the court being a sacred place?” Andrew lifts one eyebrow at Kevin’s reddening cheeks.

“It was a bad day, alright?” Kevin mumbles, surprising the freshmen with his submissive response. “I told you I was stressed.”

Normally Kevin is far more blunt, direct and strong. Before anyone can say anything though, Aaron -still not in possession of his team jacket- returns with a smirking Neil attached to his arm, looking annoyed.

“We got yelled at,” Neil says proudly and places a kiss with a loud smacking noise on Aaron’s cheek and darts away to sit back in his seat where Kevin wraps an arm around him, whispering in his ear and scolding him playfully.

Aaron flushes bright red and ducks his head while hurrying back to his chair, slouching down as far as he can, feeling incredibly embarrassed. Andrew turns his bored gaze on his twin as a response to his awkwardness.

“So… you two _aren’t_ together?” Nicky, of course, teasingly asks.

“Shut up Nicky,” Aaron mumbles, hiding his face.

Their meals arrive before the conversation can pick up again. The arrival of their food distracts the Foxes long enough that they forget about what they are talking about, until Allison leans forward, over her plate.

“So, since I won the bet that Evans is bi,” Allison starts, grinning at Evans’ soft correction of ‘bi _romantic_ ’ and looks between him and Derek. “And that Derek is asexual - what’s going on with you two? Bremer was giving you two the stink eye more so than usual, today.” As well as outright accusing them of being intimate.

Derek laughs at that, shaking his head while getting a forkful. “Well, as you read in our texts, Bremer was throwing a fit about us, thinking VC spread his ‘faggy’ germs,” Derek frowns at that slur, but continues. “That was because he found us sleeping in the same bed,” he shrugs at their clamouring and smiles supportively at a bright red Evans.

“I was having nightmares, so he held me. The contact makes me feel better,” Evans chews his lip nervously, flushing again when both Allison and Dan squeeze him in a hug.

“I know the feeling…” Kevin hums, rolling his eyes at the looks he’s given and aggressively bites into a forkful of salad. “I’m human too, ya know.”

“Yeah, a human _asshole_ at times,” Allison deadpans and everyone bursts into laughter while Kevin scowls and Renee softly scolds her. “Anyway, what’s with you two?” She looks expectantly at Laura and Talia.

When Talia and Laura flush and avoid eye contact, stammering nonsense, Andrew sighs. “They don’t have to answer that, Reynolds.” Andrew levels her with a glare.

Allison catches the pointed look Renee is giving her and bites her tongue. “And you, Sheena?” She asks instead -Laura and Talia visibly relax when the attention is taken off of them. “Did you take what we said yesterday to heart? Is that why you stood up for Baby Boy earlier?”

Oh Allison, blunt as ever; forward and to the point.

Sheena glances around the table and frowns at her plate. “I like Jack, but… I think he was using me? I don’t know.” She shrugs, expecting scrutiny and aggression, but instead.

“You don’t need his bullshit,” Nicky insists, giving her a side hug.

“You won’t be able to move forward in your life if you let people like him drag you down,” Talia catches Sheena’s gaze. “Keep people who support you, around.”

“He’s our teammate,” Sheena frowns.

“Not a team player, that’s for sure,” Aaron sneers, pushing his food around with his fork, half heartedly glaring at Andrew when nudged to eat, so he pointedly shovels a large bite into his mouth and chews at him.

“If he can learn to play along, then fine, but we don’t want you to get hurt,” Dan reaches behind Nicky to touch Sheena’s shoulder. “Let me and Neil work on him.”

“I vote letting Derek work on him,” Neil pipes up. “His right hook was _sweet_!”

Derek flushes and shrugs. “Been wanting to do that since our first meeting when he complained that he didn’t get the jersey number he wanted.”

There is more snickering and murmurs. “Well, he deserves unlucky number thirteen - seeing as he believes in all that,” Sheena adds in another secret he told her.

“Do you think he realizes it’s a combination of Andrew and VC’s numbers?” Evans asks after a moment, blinking rapidly.

“That’s fucking perfect!” Nicky howls and all of the Foxes join in, enjoying the rest of their meal together, for once bonding as a team, sans Jack.

Jack who will probably keep trying to fuck things up for the Foxes. Oh well, the asshole has to run a marathon on Sunday with a swollen face and a possibly broken nose. Serves him right, Sheena thinks, feeling good about sticking up for Neil, catching his piercing gaze and returning the smile and nod sent her way. She smiles to herself and hears her phone chime with a text -

 

Jack: WTF was that about-

 

Sheena locks her phone without finishing reading the message and instead listens in on the Foxes transition to plans for after dinner, she feels warm when she realizes she’s invited too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Finally, we're done! But not to worry, kids, Aaron's trial is next! (Or Maybe something about Jean >>)
> 
> Thank God Sheena is finally seeing sense. 
> 
> And Derek for finally punching Jack! ♡
> 
> I'm not sorry for Derek/Evans and their adorable platonic, flirty, cuddly relationship. 
> 
> Or Talia/Laura both being so into each other, but unable to say anything. 
> 
> Also - cups mouth with hands- AARON, YOU'RE DATING NEIL, GET OVER IT. 
> 
> Friendly reminder that this is the au where my Fox children are happy and loved. Leave them alone please. ♡♡♡
> 
> This may be the end of Fox Hunt, but there are going to be more stories! 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who read and commented and left kudos, to those who stuck with it. (I'm just proud I finished in a decent amount of time!)
> 
> See ya'll in the next one- gonna update Brothers first. (I've already started writing it)
> 
> ~bai!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Jack is a dirtbag. I am worried about Evans. ...And Sheena... what are you doing?
> 
> ((I'm GUESSING I'm doing this in five chapters, but not entirely certain))
> 
> What do you think!?
> 
> Kudos and comments give confidence!
> 
> <3


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